One More Time: Ts’eghaspanut’yun

My column sums up my views on the current debate, but I did have one more thing to say on the subject of the Armenian genocide. This was brought to mind as I reviewing part of Bruce Clark’s Twice A Stranger this morning before lecturing on the Megali Idea. Clark has written a fine book on the population exchanges following Lausanne. In it he has a few sentences about the genocide on page 9:

In one of the most ghastly chapters of modern history, the entire Armenian population in most parts of Anatolia was deported southwards and at least 600,000 died as a result. To this day, bitter arguments rage between the Turkish government, its defenders and critics over the cause of these deaths. Were they the result of a deliberate policy of mass killing, or, so to speak, negligence? A few courageous Turkish historians have argued for the absurdity of the latter position. [bold mine-DL]

And, of course, that is an absurd position, but it is one that you will see Ankara’s apologists use.